Searle produces limited edition or unique artists’ books many of which, since the 1980’s, have explored significant sites, often forgotten. He investigates their history and the ways they have been impacted by progress. He delves into memories he has of areas he knew as a child, area he continues to visit and inhabit. For almost 30 years, Searle has made works about the Cooks River and its environs as a way of exploring ideas about landscape. The river’s history is one of endless appropriation and pollution, leaving its still serpentine form corseted in concrete canals after Depression-era relief work projects.
Note accompanying a selection of books from the project Pictorial perambulations along Cooks River and its tributaries. National Gallery of Australia 2013.